E-mail marketing has come a long way since its infancy. We've developed advanced features allowing marketers to drastically increase ROI. We're leveraging social media platforms by offering integration for e-mail campaigns. Tools like A/B split testing, transaction e-mails and segmentation are standard for serious e-mail marketers.

When it comes to lead management, you can't just roll the dice and expect to be successful. Even with today's powerful marketing automation technologies, process and strategy are essential to developing a strong lead-management program. To win big, you need planning, creativity and technology working in close concert with one another. Here are some key tactics that will help you engage prospects, move them through the pipeline and ensure that you beat out the competition.

For law firms, e-mail marketing can be a tricky business. Aside from CAN-SPAM, law firms are required to follow special rules, depending on the states they practice in, that dictate how lawyers can market to potential clients. Still many firms want to get into digital marketing and are approaching channels like e-mail as a CRM tool, sending newsletters to clients to build relationships.

Companies of all sizes and across all industries are investing in video cameras and editing tools, making videos and posting them on the Web. What many of them don't realize is that putting video on the Internet without tracking its effectiveness is tantamount to hiring a new sales rep, training her, giving her a customer route and then never checking in with her.

E-mail marketing is a great way to stay in contact with donors. You may send them updates on cause-related events, send a newsletter, and even advise them of an upcoming mailing. The key is to be interactive and get their attention. Show them you care. Show them you understand them and how they can be of assistance to you and your cause. Whatever you are doing, be sure to ask them for a donation.

Many nonprofits are transitioning from print newsletters to e-mail newsletters to take advantage of cost savings, speed and clickable actions. Building an e-mail list from scratch and growing it to compensate for the inevitable list churn is challenging for many nonprofits.

Many of the techniques that nonprofits use to build files do not differ drastically from those of corporate entities. However, one of the most important aspects to maintaining and growing a file for a nonprofit is to sustain the relationship by communicating and sharing the impact of their gift, time and talent on the mission of the organization.

We've known for a while that donors who give through multiple channels give more frequently and make larger gifts, but now we're finding that the presence of an e-mail address makes a positive difference in the giving behavior of offline donors.

E-mail marketing is one of the most effective retention marketing techniques available to digital marketers today. Whatever business you're in - whether you're a local hairdresser trying to increase return traffic to your salon or a multi-million dollar e-commerce site with more than 1,000 products to sell - e-mail marketing should be one of the highest priorities within your online marketing strategy.

Transactional e-mails are a great way for marketers to keep up with their customers and build loyalty. Digital bill statements are a good example of this.